Mike Casale announces that it’s time to board a Peter Pan bus bound for New York City on Wednesday. He works at the bus terminal off Route 95 in Providence.

The Providence Journal / Steve Szydlowski

For most Americans, Thanksgiving means a day off from work, a big meal with family, maybe some football on TV.

But for others, the holiday is just another working day. Police and firefighters still need to be on duty. Airlines, buses and trains are running. Hospitals have to be staffed. And someone has to cook for and serve those people who decide they want to eat out instead of stay home.

According to the American Management Association, an executive training organization, the origins of Thanksgiving are actually rooted in work, since it began as a day to give thanks for the hard-earned bounty of the harvest, and express gratitude to the native Americans who helped the Pilgrims survive. “So, in a very real sense, the tradition of Thanksgiving began as a way of celebrating the timeless workplace values of hard work and cooperation,” the association said in its newsletter.

Of course, even the management association admits most Americans are glad for some time off.

Here’s a look at a few of the places in Rhode Island where people will be working this Thanksgiving:

McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant, Providence: Seafood is not the first thing that comes to mind for Thanksgiving, but general manager Fred Pahl said McCormick & Schmick’s adds “a tremendous turkey dinner” for $19.95 to the menu and does a big business on Thanksgiving.

“I think more people are eating out over the holidays because it takes some of the work and stress out of the day,” he said.

Pahl said he tries to divide the shifts for his workers — morning, afternoon and evening — so that everyone who wants to get home to their families can find time. “Some of our servers from out of town don’t mind working on Thanksgiving because it’s a busy day and they can make a lot of money,” he said.

John Sheppard, a McCormick & Schmick’s waiter from Los Angeles who now lives in Providence, calls the phenomenon “sympathy tips.” He said he had a friend who worked one Thanksgiving when she was seven months pregnant, and made a fortune. “They were just throwing money at her,” he said.

Sheppard said he doesn’t mind working holidays.

“I can’t remember the last holiday I had off. It’s just another day…. I told the person who does the schedule that I’d work all the holidays. My own family is 3,000 miles away, so it’s not that big a deal.”

Sheppard said his friends will probably come over to his house the Friday after Thanksgiving to celebrate. Restaurant people tend to live their lives on odd schedules anyway, he said, so celebrating a holiday at a different time from everyone else is no big deal.

Megan Johnson, from Battle Creek, Mich., is working part time at McCormick & Schmick’s while she studies for her MBA at Johnson & Wales University. Last year, she said, she worked the Thanksgiving early shift, got out about 3:30 p.m., then went and had Cornish hen with her fiancÉ. She said McCormick & Schmick’s was serving Thanksgiving dinner as early at 10 a.m. “I didn’t realize how many people go out to eat on the holidays,” she said.

Like Sheppard, she said Thanksgiving is a good day for tips. “People feel sorry for you that you’re working on a holiday,” she said.

WJAR-TV, Channel 10, Cranston: Thanksgiving is all about high school football for Channel 10 sports director Frank Carpano. Carpano said he was compiling the schedule of high school games in the region last week, and came up with 22 that will be played Thanksgiving Day, with another 6 scheduled for the night before.

“I’ve been here for 27 years now, and I’ve always worked Thanksgiving,” Carpano said. “I enjoy it, to tell the truth. I have a meal with my family early and then I come in to work. Carpano said the station puts together a half-hour high school football report that airs at 5:30 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.

Carpano said when he was a teenager growing up in Massachusetts, where he went to Lincoln-Sudbury High School, he covered high school football as a stringer for the local paper. “For me, high school football is as much a part of Thanksgiving as turkey and stuffing,” he said. “I don’t know any other way [to spend the holiday], to tell the truth.”

Carpano said the station usually provides a turkey dinner for staffers who have to work on Thanksgiving. “If you want to get into this business, it’s a given that you’re going to have to work some holidays,” Carpano said.

Claiborne Pell Bridge, Jamestown/Newport: Marianne Hillier is director of toll plaza operations for the Pell Bridge, which connects Jamestown and Newport and is run by the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority. David Reilly is a shift supervisor at the toll plaza. Both said they’ve spent their share of holidays at work. “Nineteen years in the [tollbooth],” said Reilly.

Hillier said there are 13 people scheduled to work in the tollbooths at the Pell Bridge during the 24 hours of Thanksgiving. Traffic is busy around mealtimes, she said, then slows down, particularly after about 7 p.m. Over the years, Hillier said, she’s adjusted her own Thanksgivings around her shifts, eating either early or late depending on when she’s working.

Reilly said there are financial advantages to working on the holidays, since workers get time-and-a-half for their shifts. Plus, drivers tend to be in a jovial mood on a holiday. Reilly said Christmas Day sees the lightest traffic on the bridge while Thanksgiving gets a bit more because people are going to and from meals. But he said it doesn’t come close to the “big three” summer holidays — Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day.

Reilly said he usually found Christmas and New Year’s Eve the toughest time to be in the tollbooth. Thanksgiving, for some reason, wasn’t so bad.

Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Providence: Linda Goodale, interim manager for Child Life Services at the hospital, has spent the last several Thanksgivings working at a traditional holiday meal the hospital provides for patients and their families. Goodale said staff and volunteers do their best to convert a hospital conference room into a family dining room, and the kitchen provides the Thanksgiving meal.

Goodale said the food is usually served about midday, and about 100 people take part, although not all at the same time. Some children are not well enough to eat, and many family members with ill children just don’t feel like it. “We encourage families to come down, and if they don’t want to do that we’ll go around and bring the food up to them,” she said.

Goodale, who has been a hospital employee since 1979, before Hasbro was built, said most of the hospital staff have an ability to juggle their own celebrations around their work, eating earlier or later or on a different day.

“You’re working a holiday to help other people get through their holiday…. It seems so normal to me. I enjoy the way it might work to help a particular family.”

Peter Pan Bus Terminal, Providence: “I’m one of those guys who work on holidays,” said bus dispatcher Mike Casale, who works for the Peter Pan bus company, formerly Bonanza. “That’s just part of the business; you knew from the get-go that would be part of the game plan.” Casale said he works an early shift at the bus terminal, and he’s usually out by 1:30 p.m.

He also enjoys the camaraderie on the job. “The company usually has turkey; people will bring in food. It’s a nice atmosphere. It’s still a holiday, but it’s spent here.”

Casale said Thanksgiving is a busy day, although not as busy as the Tuesday before and the Sunday after, traditionally some of the heaviest travel days of the year. “By Thursday, most people are already where they need to be,” he said.

An 18-year veteran with the bus company, Casale said he’s also spent some Thanksgivings on the road as a bus driver. He said it didn’t bother him. “Travel-wise, it’s usually not bad. Traffic is usually light. It’s not like you’re all alone, because there are people on the bus. Everyone is usually in a holiday spirit…. It’s not all that bad.”

Renaissance Providence Hotel, Providence: This will be the first Thanksgiving for the hotel, which opened this year at the site of the old Masonic Temple, near the State House. Tom Riel, director of sales and marketing, said Thanksgiving is normally a quiet day in the hotel business. (Riel said the hotel, in an effort to grow its Thanksgiving business, will be offering rooms that typically go for $219 for $159.) Riel said he couldn’t speak for the restaurant, Temple Downtown Restaurant + Lounge, which is run as a separate operation from the hotel.

Riel said the hotel would be staffed at the same level as any other quiet weekday, such as a Thursday, when business travelers typically leave, or a Sunday.

Carolina Ferreira said she’ll be working the early shift, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the front desk this Thanksgiving. Ferreira said she’s a native of Brazil, where they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. But she’s married to an American, so when she’s done working at the hotel she’ll go to her mother-in-law’s house in Massachusetts to celebrate the holiday.

asmith@projo.com